Monster python eats pet
Monster: Stuart Douglas shows the lump in the python where it ate the Peric family's dog.
VIDEO AND PHOTO GALLERY: A Kuranda couple fears for their children's safety after a 5m python devoured their dog in front of them, just weeks after other snakes killed their cat and guinea pig.
Daniel Peric said he now would not leave his two children, aged five and seven, alone in any part of the house, after the "enormous" python ate his silky terrier-cross chihuahua about 9pm on Monday.
"Actually watching it unfold before your eyes was pretty gut wrenching," he said.
"We'd had the dog about five years, so it was part of the family."
Mr Peric said in the weeks before, the family had found their cat's body, which looked like something had attempted to swallow it and on Sunday a smaller python had eaten their pet guinea pig.
"When it happens once, you think it's a one-off, but last night I thought "this is serious," he said.
"We have ducted air-conditioning. Call it paranoia, but my big fear is that a snake will get in there."
Australian Venom Zoo owner Stuart Douglas took the call from the distressed Peric family on Monday night and arrived to remove the scrub python within 20 minutes.
"They were very upset but they still had the decency to call us to come and get it," Mr Douglas said.
"It was at the bottom of the veranda, they'd thrown chairs at it (the python) to try to stop it, but it had already eaten the animal."
Mr Douglas said by the time he arrived, all that could be seen of the dog was its back legs and tail.
"It only took about 30 minutes to eat the dog, but it will be digesting it for two days," he said.
Mr Douglas said pythons were amazing animals that belonged in the Far North but people needed to be aware that pets were potential prey.
"These pythons used to feed on wallabies but now they feed on cats and dogs in suburbia," he said.
"This python actively stalked their dog."
He said if anyone saw a large snake near their home they should call someone to remove it as soon as possible.
"There’s someone in every area of Queensland who will come around for a donation and basically volunteer to collect it."
Mr Douglas said he would wait until the python had fully digested its prey before releasing it.
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